Later
by didsomeonesayventus
Summary: "Link I... I'll see you later."


It had been years. Many, many years. Years trying to harvest the right amount of energy from Sols and trying to find out how to use it to make a new link between Twilight and Light. And now here she was, breathing in the crisp desert air. She looked around, noting how the already unkempt grounds had become ever more decrepit.

"Portals should still be around." she muttered under her breath, "It's old, old magic. Based off of the rhythms of the land." Midna felt around in the shadowy void of magic. It was weak. While it would take more years for it to be gone for good, it was definitely not without its own troubles. Midna didn't think she'd have trouble traveling the old network from journey's past, but it was choked and uncooperative. Landed in a pile of leaves in Faron woods. Almost spotted at the edge of Eldin's spring (Kakariko was booming this time of year, wasn't it? Or had it grown?). Completely soaked in Lake Hylia and almost froze because of it at Snow Peak right after.

Finally, after a few more misadventures, she ended up in front of the Castle Town gates. Many a person in the crowd murmured in alarm at her presence- not every day you saw a blue-skinned Twili walking as if she owned the place -but Midna paid no mind. In fact, she didn't even get any resistance from the guards. They even cowered before her and let her in.

Of course, Midna knew all the routes of the castle from her previous siege when it was "under new management". Even with the restorations and remodeling she didn't get lost once. She knew where she was going. She wanted to see Zelda again. Who knew if wolfy-boy still hung around the area or went back to goat herding, but Midna knew Zelda would be here. Unless she was dead, but no one wanted to think of that.

"W-what business do you have with Queen Zelda?" Midna paused at the young man trembling a little, but sternly making sure no one saw the queen unannounced.

"Princess Midna, I'm a friend of hers." She replied. It was kind and gentle, but the young man jumped anyways. Midna held out her hand with a slight bow- she wouldn't really get over how tall she was compared to Hylians and Humans, "The Twilight Princess? Ruler of the Twilight Realm?" The man bolted, and Midna simply let herself in with a shrug.

The landing before the throne room was as windy as she remembered, but there wasn't any storm clouds so it was considerably more pleasant than the last time. The steps were long, and thus quite cumbersome, though. "Silly little people after some sense of grandeur..." Midna muttered, "Do they really want me to be a disheveled mess, all sweating and breathless?"

She stopped. That was not Zelda on the throne. This was a girl- Zelda's age for sure -but there was something different. Her nose was more stubborn. The eyes were a fierce slate blue, used to being furrowed but currently relaxed. The hair was slightly lighter than brown, more sandy blond and a little fluffier and arranged in a different style with wispy bangs and unbound locks that formed a plait in the back. But the face shape was right; delicate, regal. Skin was pale like she'd never gone outside, or didn't do so much.

And then Midna recognized the mishmash of features. Link's nose, his eyes, his hair. Zelda's royal and commanding features that seemed to be from a masterpiece of a goddess's muse. And yet she was almost twenty... Midna felt a pang in her heart; it wasn't even a decade she spent in the Twilight Realm.

"Who are you?" the girl- this newer Queen Zelda -asked.

"Who are you?" Midna asked back, finally walking forward in this far too large throne room, "What are you doing on Zelda's throne?"

"I am Zelda." the girl said, "Zelda, the II." She rose from her throne. Midna recognized the rapier she picked up- that was Zelda's. Her Zelda's. This new Zelda seemed to be admonishing Midna, but also boasting, "My mother was queen during the Twilit Siege, my father is the legendary hero who banished the threat-"

"And my dear," Midna said, "you are addressing the Twilight Princess, Midna."

Zelda stopped. She blushed, but promptly folded her arms and looked away, "I-I'm sorry. They- my parents, I mean -never told me what you looked like." Midna raised an eyebrow at the impatient, almost angry tone.

"Well I'm not here for you." Midna snapped, "I'm here to see your mother..." she added a little softer, "and Link."

Zelda II walked up to Midna and grabbed her hand, "Very well, she's this way." Midna didn't hold on, but she didn't get out of the grasp either. She followed the young queen down, down, down back through the castle.

Midna faltered when they went into the graveyard. Zelda II let go and folded her arms in front of a larger, more ornate grave than the rest, "Mother died a few years ago." She then got down on the grass- skirts fluffing up like a pillow -and began talking to the grave, "Mother, it's Midna. You remember her, right? She came back to see you..."

Midna walked up and rubbed the headstone, "I'm sorry... I didn't know it was this long." Midna could see Zelda- the Zelda she knew -standing behind the stone in a flickering, blueish light (being Twili had its advantages; she was more in tune to spirits than these light-dwellers).

Zelda I was smiling and nodding, as if this wasn't such a somber reunion. No, no, Zelda was always somber. Still, the smile was unorthodox from how she acted during those adventures so long ago. More free, more happy. Midna grinned and nodded back. Tears were welling in her eyes, but then she wiped them up and cleared her throat, "So, y-your father?" Out of the corner of her eye, Zelda I vanished, her spirit apparently at ease.

"He left a long time ago. Absconded the throne." Zelda II replied. She shrugged, gold and jewelry clinking with the same confusion, "He was a little restless and sad here, I suppose." She frowned, "I never really noticed it until now..."

"That was Link." Midna nodded, "After discovering Hyrule he always loved travel. Didn't like being in one place." She turned and began leaving, "Didn't like talking about what was on his mind either."

Zelda II got up, "I suppose you're leaving?"

"Well, I need to find him." Midna sighed, "If he's still around I gotta-"

"He... He liked puzzles. Left a hint of where he was going." The two royals then went through the castle again- up, up, down, this way and that -and Zelda II showed Midna a set of items. The gale boomerang,a horse-call (not the one Ilia made, oddly), and then a sword that had the handle dyed a rich indigo. "Father said if I ever wanted to find him... I just need to piece what these all meant." She picked up the horse-call and blew it; a somber little ditty of three notes, but oddly hollow.

Midna recognized it all, "Of course." She huffed, "No, not back to Ordon, decided to be a stupid hermit in those woods."

"W-what?" Zelda II ran after her, "But why-"

"The sword is a facsimile of the Master Sword, we got that boomerang nearby, and the song is what that silly imp played." Midna said, rapid fire. Who knew if Link was dead already she just didn't want to be disappointed again.

Before Queen Zelda II could reply, Midna was gone.

...

Midna descended into the abandoned forest like shadows spreading across the ground. She walked forward through the gates, walking past the door and leaning over the crumbling railing with a pout. No one. Birds in the distance, not even howling. Midna held up her hands, "LINK! LIIINNNNKKK!" frustrated, she whistled, "Hey! Here boy!"

Nothing. Midna banged her fist on the railing, "JUST SAY SOMETHIN-" it crumbled, and the Twilight Princess was sent head-over-heels to the ground, "EAHH!"

Except it wasn't quite the ground, "Oof! Your high-and-mighty-impish-ness? You could lose a little more weight."

Midna studied the old, worn face. Little squarer. Little more rugged. Hair was poofy as always and longer- in a ponytail, in fact. She started crying, and hugged Link.

Link hugged her back, "It's a lot later."

"I said later and it is!" Midna laughed. Link set her down for only a moment before Midna hugged him again, tighter, "I'm sorry...?"

Link only held her close. "You came back, at least."

* * *

><p>Someone kill me with a spoon please<p> 


End file.
